IN FLAMES

This interview with Peter Iwers from In Flames was done through e-mail in August 2001.

Hello, how are you?
Fine as always!! A bit overwhelmed by the last weeks overwhelming response at the festivals we played.

Your first live album "The Tokyo Showdown" will be released on August 2nd. What are your hopes and expectations for this release?
I hope that people that have seen us live, will get a really cool flashback when they listen to the cd, and that people that havenīt seen us will get even more eager to go to a show in the future.

And I hope that everybody likes it and takes it for what it is- a LIVE album.

Was the idea for a live album your's or Nuclear Blast's?
Ours- after getting some input from people around the band.

The cover of the album is really beautiful. How come you let Niklas Sundin do the artwork this time?
He is a great friend and we knew that he was really talented, so we asked him if he wanted to do something different from what heīd been doing before- and he said, yes!!

When I say different- I mean using a different kind of angle , since we have somewhat of a theme going on in every album...and different type of colours etc.

Is Japan your favorite place to play live? Do you know where you have most of your fans?
Japan is definetely one of our favourite places but thatīs not the reason to why we chose to record there- we simply had a good opportunity to record there and since the show worked out so well- we chose to keep it and release it.

I think that in the southern part of Europe and in Japan we have the biggest crowds- but lately it seems that other countries wants to compete with those figures and they are pretty fuckin close to getting there- Sweden,Finland,USA, etc.

Do you know how many albums you have sold so far?
I know that it is a lot by now, but I donīt know exactly how many so I shouldnīt really speculate.Clayman is the one that has sold the best and itīs still selling very well.

A lot of your earlier songs include a jester but on Clayman you seem to have left the jesters behind. Was this meant to be something like Iron Maiden's Eddie?
If you look closer you see that the Jester is always there- even on Clayman!Maybe not in a songtitle- but heīs there.

It was never like this- "hey, letīs copy iron maiden and have something similar to Eddy"- itīs just something that came about - and then he was stuck with us.

Today a lot of bands mention you as one of their main sources of inspiration but what bands inspired you in the beginning of your musical career?
Everything in hardrock- from Iron Maiden,Helloween,Deep Purple,Rainbow. via the old school thrash metal such as Kreator- to death metal, Death,Atheist,Cannibal Corpse, etc.

Nowadays we listen to everything, not just the hard stuff of course.

What do you think of the metal scene in Sweden today? Are there any bands you like in particular?
I like Opeth, Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity- and more

I think that there are some bands that are more unique thatn others, which makes them more interesting to listen to.

Jesper is the only original member still in the band, is he the boss now?
Yes- Masa Jesper- we owe everything to him- heīs our Buddha!! ha ha

No- we are a very democratic band- and Jesper is not the only reason to why we are where we are today- even though heīs the founder. Anders does all the lyrics and the vocal harmonies- Björn writes the music as well as Jesper and me and Daniel puts it together with the other boys.

Did your old bass player Johan Larsson leave the world of music completely? Is he the same Johan Larsson who played with Hammerfall for a couple of years?
I donīt know anything about what he is doing at the moment- I donīt think heīs doing any music..

Might be- yes!

Carl Näslund used to play guitars in the band, what has he been up to since then?
this was eight years ago- or more- letīs stick with today please

What are your future plans? Do you have any idea as to when we can expect a sequel to the magnificent Clayman?
we will start pre-producing next week- and record sometime this year- weīll hopefully have a new album out by next summer

Any final words for the fans?
Thank you very much, for the past year― of Clayman touring - I hope youīll stay for the next one as well.